It was dawn at April 26, 1986, when the No. 4 nuclear reactor at Chernobyl in Ukraine exploded, releasing radioactive isotopes into the atmosphere that are still present and show that 35 years later, the disaster continues!
They died instantly in the accident. 2 of the employees at the station. Over the next four months, they died. 28 firefighters who rushed to the scene of the accident, while it was found that 19 more deaths by 2004 from radiation and burns caused by heat. It is also estimated that the health of hundreds of thousands of people was affected due to the environmental impact of radiation. The percentage increase in cancer was over 15% in the exposed populations, with thousands of deaths from cancer and leukemia be linked to the accident.
Η Sweden was the first country to inform the world about the disaster, after the Soviet government had initially decided to keep the Chernobyl explosion secret. .
The amount of radioactivity released into the atmosphere is almost 200 times greater from the radiation released by the two atomic bombs Nagasaki and of Hiroshima together!
The Pripyat, the nearest town, was evacuated two days after the disaster, when many people had already been exposed to high levels of radiation. Radioactive rain reached as far as Ireland. The Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were the countries most affected, as they absorbed 63% of the pollution from the accident.
Animals living within the 30-kilometer exclusion zone around Chernobyl have higher mortality rates, increased genetic mutations, and low birth rates.
Approximately 5 million people still live in areas exposed to radiation, while one can travel to the restricted zone of Chernobyl! Travel agencies organize day trips to the abandoned city of Pripyat! Finally, it should be noted that the plant's three remaining reactors continued to operate for the next 13 years!
